@Holden did a good job explaining it.

Also, I have a rare incurable cancer and the clock is ticking down to metastatic disease to my liver. The best option for me if that happens is a clinical trial currently funded through NIH. So I’m very invested in this. Just trying to understand the impact.

No, I understand that. I have worked in the nonprofit sector for nearly 30 years.

What was not clear to me was the actual impact on the research.

In my NFP world, IDC is admin (the finance department, HR, etc.) and all other costs are cost allocated to the programs the grants support.

Thank you for explaining. That makes sense to me.

But wouldn’t the scientist’s salaries be covered in the program portion of the grant? That’s the “service” the grant is paying for. IDC typically cover the admin staff.

I’m here to tell you the Human Services industry I work in rarely gets IDC in our grants. We have to fundraise to help pay the admin costs. If we get 10%, we are lucky.

We have a staff of 52. Of that, 5 are “admin” and the rest of us are program staff. The IDC only cover admin staff.

While I have a lot at stake with NIH funding with my cancer, tell me why a 15% rate of indirect costs is bad.

The NFP I work for rarely gets indirect funds and we only get around 4% for our Smart Start funding.

And the Fed just raised the de minimis rate from 10% to 15% in October.

OM girlie here. 🧿💙